Maybe Next Time
by The Carnivorous Muffin
Summary: A look at a world in which Lily does play the role of a pokémon. Side fic to "Wearing the Faces of Men"


**Author's Note: A note that this is a side fic of "Wearing the Faces of Men" which is in turn a side fic of "Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus". If you haven't read those you'll be dreadfully confused. Also, this is NOT CANON.**

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"You know, we don't have to do this."

Lily always started out the battles with this standard disclaimer to her opinion. As always, it was true, neither of them had to be here right now. They could go their separate ways without coming to any blows at all. True, they'd have hell to pay when it came to their disappointed trainer but it was the principal of the matter.

Lily, as always, had nothing against her opponent du jour. In fact, she had less against her opponent of the day than she usually did. This poor was undoubtedly fresh off the boat so to speak and had only had to face the brutal horror of fighting until losing consciousness a few times if at all.

The trainer wasn't much better, one of those prepubescent squirts who thought himself the next pokémon champion and had decided to take up battling right off the main route into his hometown. He'd probably just passed his first exam in the pokémon academy and considered himself tough shit.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize that some people got luckier with their starter than he did. Some people, Lily thought with a glance back towards her own determined trainer, managed to get Lily.

"Seriously, kid," Lily repeated, "This is going to be messy and painful and I do not recommend it."

The quaked in determined terror, digging his little paws into the dirt road and preparing to sprint forward into either Tackle or perhaps Headbutt.

Or who knew, maybe his trainer was the strategic type and there'd be a Sand Attack or Leer involved. Those were the brats Lily hated the most. If they realized that Lily could get a one-hit KO then the smarter ones would do everything in their power to lower her stats and frequently her accuracy. Lily would then spend the next half-hour feeling some poor creature try to knock her over while she blindly flailed around until she hit something.

Most trainers his age though weren't experienced enough to have figured that bit out yet though. Instead, they focused on the power moves and gaining experience, only later realizing that perhaps they should have focused their pokémon's arsenal on something a little more useful.

"Go get him, Lily!" Lily's master called out, pointing a finger forward with a grin, "Use Tackle, now!"

Jesus Christ.

Tackle.

They had been using Tackle since Lily had first been captured and passed off. She wasn't sure if he didn't realize that Lily could do a little more than tackling but that was the first thing he always did in any situation. That said, it didn't seem to really bother him that Lily had never once listened.

Instead, with a sigh, Lily decided that quicker was better than slow and painful, she raised a hand towards her opponent and let out a Hyper Beam, "My apologies, comrade."

And where had been standing only a few seconds before, so ready to take on Lily and the world, he was now ten-feet deep inside of a crater as the last particles of light disappeared.

The 's devastated trainer rushed into the crater for his pokémon, looking across in horror over at Lily's master. Which, really, Lily had very little sympathy for him. For his , yes always, but for him? What had he expected? When you entered a pokémon battle you were taking the risk that your pokémon could be seriously injured or perhaps even die.

It was the brutal and horrifying truth that was so often brushed over. Instead the other trainer was blamed for taking it too far, for forgetting the rules and regulations of the pokémon league. When it was the league itself that dictated pokémon battles were to be fought until surrender or black out.

Lily was not far into this pokémon battle business, but already, she felt entirely too old for it.

"That wasn't Tackle," the boy cried out as put back into its pokéball, likely planning to sprint his way to the pokémon center at the first opportunity.

Lily's own trainer just rubbed the back of his head, sheepish and a bit confused, "Yeah, I guess it wasn't, we're still working on that."

Working on it Lily's ass.

Lily glanced down the street, as usual, there were about fifteen different trainers camped out ready to battle at the first opportunity. It was going to be another long day.

She glanced back at her trainer, dark haired, still growing, stuffed into scuffed up tennis shoes and a red hat. He wasn't all that unusual, there were dozens out there who looked just like him, but still Lily wondered how far exactly he'd take this.

Would he really take it all the way to the pokémon league? And what then, there were borders beyond Kanto, Lily knew that much. Would he push them to the ends of the earth to face every league that had ever existed?

With Lily, if he figured out what he was doing, or who knew maybe even if he didn't, then he might be able to pull it off. He could become a pokémon champion with little more than Tackle under his belt. And Lily would still be here, just as would still be here, and all of them would still be here.

Well, Lily thought as the red light hit her and drew her back into the pokéball, she supposed she'd just have to wait and see with the rest of them.

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**Author's Note: Written for the 500th review of "Wearing the Faces of Men" by Eviline who asked for a story where Lily is treated as a Pokémon. So we get this short.**

**Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or Harry Potter**


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